The house we have all come to know and love as Darrin & Samantha's still stands today (the exterior) at the Warner Brothers Ranch (originally Screen Gems/Columbia), West Oak Street in Burbank, California. The house really is situated on a "circle", along with many other famous homes used for other TV shows. I always think of the ranch as the "feel good neighborhood", as all the shows made in that wonderful sunny spot just give you a good feeling! One house, to the left of Darrin and Sam's while facing it was the "Gidget" house, home to Professor Russell Lawrence (Don Porter) and his daughter "Gidget" (Sally Field) in 1965 (Sally later returned to the ranch to film some scenes of her series "The Flying Nun (1967-1970) as well as "The Girl With Something Extra" (1973-1974), a show about a girl who could read people's minds. This same house was also used for episodes of Bewitched including "Mrs. Parsons'" house (home to all the cats!) and Pleasure O'Reilly's house, a sexy next door neighbor. The TV show "The Monkees" (1966-1968) filmed exterior shots of the guys being wacky on the ranch too!
The old show "Hazel" also used the Gidget exterior, as well as the Jerry Lewis movie "Hook, Line & Sinker".

Another neat thing is that the continuity of Screen Gems shows was really excellent - if they chose to use an exterior (say the 1164 house as a neighbor of Gidget) they ALSO made sure that if someone walked up to it and was invited in, they showed the correct interior that was identified with it. This was a lot of trouble to go to, but it was done with all the shows. In other words, they wouldn't show the Gidget/Hazel house exterior, then show someone who supposedly walked into the house talking in a room of the 1164 interior. No matter what the show, no matter how many years later, they always matched them up. Keep in mind that the interior shots were done at Sunset Gower Studios (see photo above) many miles away from the exteriors. Did you know that the man who drew up the plans for the ranch facade also created the plans for the interior 10 years after the exterior was built? He is still alive, and is 92 years old this year (in 1999)!

Remember the city scenes you saw which showed where McMann & Tate's offices were? That was also at the ranch, but that area has been completely taken down to make room for some pre-fab studio buildings. This old city area was located down past the the Bostonian Row Homes (which are still there today). These houses replicated an actual street in Boston, Mass.

Joe visited the ranch a couple of years ago, and said it was very eerie looking behind the house - there was nothing but old boards and junk behind it - and the alley you sometimes saw (Sam chasing a Bulldog, etc) was actually out behind the facade - just a few feet from the back of it! Just beyond that is a fence, then the "real world" highway. He said the driveway was quite narrow, much more so than a normal one, and that the perspective of the roof was not what it would be in a normal house.

Did you lnow that we are lucky to even still have the house, and we only do because it is the most favorite house of the ranch employees AND the most famous, although it has not been used nearly as much as the others have been. When Tim Allen blew it up years ago on Home Improvement, it was a major debate whether or not to keep it. Being that most of the structure is fiberglass it suffered a lot more devastation than they originally thought. They almost took it down!

1164 Today. Adam Jones sent me this photo 8/98.Note the building that has sprung up behind it!

After almost 40 years (yes the house IS that old, it was NOT built for just for Bewitched) they have laid a cement foundation around the backside and, as of February 1999 they enclosed what was once just a two sided facade! Yes, that's right, the house, while only going to measure about 10 feet deep is now be enclosed - it was either that or lose it completely to the elements. So it was saved and will now be used to store things like service vehicles and lawn mowers like the other house structures do!

As of 2011, the ranch is currently being used to shoot the popular teen show which airs on ABC Family Channel, and all exteriors shown are in this neighborhood. Check out this video by fwd'ing to 4:09 - the car scene - when they show Ben close-up, you can see 1164 behind him. After that scene ends, you can see the house where the main character Amy lives - isn't that the tree Liz stood in?

Strolling The Neighborhood

As we walk out the front door of 1164, we see a street that houses the homes of other famous faces and families; The house with the white picket fence (the fence was gone when Joe was there) was home to The Partridge Family (1970-1974) and that fave teen idol David Cassidy, as well as to the Kravitzes (some of the time). The Kravitzes were supposed to live directly accross the street facing Sam and Darrin, but their house was actually down the street. I really like this original yellow house with the white picket fence. See pics below for more details.

Down the street from the Partridges, we find the home of Major Nelson of I Dream of Jeannie fame (1965-1970), Palm Dr., Cocoa Beach, Fla (the interiors of Dr. Bellows' house was Sam and Darrin's) This same house was home to the Anderson family (Jim, Margaret, Betty, James & Kathy) of "Father Knows Best" (1954-1963). Other famous families lived on this circle including Donna Reed (1958-1966), Dennis The Menace (1959-1963) and Blondie (1957-1969). The street is often still referred to as "Blondie Street" by the old timers!

My, How The Neighbors Have Changed!

Below you will see some images and video clips from Sam & Darrin's Partridge Family and Gidget neighbors. I hope these will give you some perspective as to how the area is layed out, and how some things have changed.

ThePartridgeFamilyHouse

Here we see Shirley (Jones) Partridge walking down
her front walk with 1164 in the background

We see Sam & Darrin's garage corner to theright and the
Gidget/Hazel house is on the left.

The Partridge Family/Kravitz house then ('70-'74)

The Partridge Family/Kravitz house today (1998)WOW! It's totally different and the picketfence is gone! David Cassidy looks on :-)

The Partridge Family bus rode on by Sam &
Darrin's many times. I wonder what shenaniganswere going on in their house here??

Here's a current view looking down the street
towards 1164. Partridge house in on the right,1164 at the end of the street with abuilding behind it now (and more smog!)

3 Partridge kids come out of the gate, make a right, and head towards 1164. Down the street is the I Dream Of Jeannie/Father Knows Best house and the Bostonian Row Homes after that.

David Cassidy looks up the driveway of theold house in 1998, we see this view is similarto the one at left - the trees have grown and more have been planted along the parking strip.

See an MPEG movie of David visiting his old house here. (963K, 3 min DL time at 56K)

See an MPEG movie of the drive from the Partridge house to down and off the lot here. (469K, Less than 2 min. DL Time at 56K)

Some Partridge/Bewitched Trivia:

Did you know that Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay) starred in an episode of The Partridge Family?

Did you know that Danny Bonaduce starred in 2 episodes of Bewitched? #162 "Going Ape" and #178 "A Bunny For Tabitha".

Did you know that Shirley Jones and Elizabeth Montgomery were friends? See them here.

TheGidgetHouse

Gidget starred an 18 year old Sally Field ('65-'66)

We see Gidget walking out of her house. The Stephens live next door (to the right if facingthe houses).

Closer up we see Gidget walking out of her house. Note the rough stone front - this is the easiest way to identify this house. Today, the stone is completely gone on this facade.

Gidget leaves Larue's '65 Mustang in the driveway.Does she know who's living next door on theother side of the fence?

Sally Field gets out of Larue's Mustang infront of 1164 Morning Glory Circle.

Sally Field "Gidget" rings the doorbell at 1164. Who will answer?

Here's a scene from Gidget being filmed in theBewitched living room. What's interesting aboutthis is that Gidget was filmed in color the same year that Bewitched was being filmed in B&W. This is one of the few glimpses at the Bewitched living room in color during the second season!

Here's another view of the living room in color.William Asher also directed some of the Gidget episodes, and most of the crew was the same as on Bewitched. Unfortunately, this great show only lasted one season.

Some Gidget/Bewitched Trivia:

Did you know that Paul Lynde starred in an episode of Gidget?

Did you know that Gidget made a number of remarks about Elizabeth Montgomery in one of the episodes? In one sentence she referred to her as "the bewitching Liz Montgomery"

Did you ever notice Gidget's dresser? Among the perfume bottles was a doll that at a distance looked to be a Barbie - but wait! That's a 1966 Ideal Samantha doll, dressed in her red hat, dress and broom! Was this the start of subliminal advertising? :-)

MPEG Ranch Tours

Drive the WHOLE circumference of the ranch, beginning with the Gidget house (just to the left of 1164), moving counterclockwise and ending at 1164 Morning Glory Circle. Download (patiently, for die hard fans only!) the MPEG here. 2.3 MB. 6-1/2 min. DL at 56K (Video Courtesy of Steve Colbert)

View a shorter clip of the ranch drive, beginning at the Bostonian Row Homes, going by the I Dream Of Jeannie house, the Partridge Family house, and ending at 1164. See it here. 1.1 MB 3-1/2 min. DL at 56K (Video Courtesy of Steve Colbert)